Dube at it again! Another U-turn on suspensions!

[Posted 03 Feb 2012][By Brighton Mupangavanhu]

The affable but inconsistent man at the helm of the blundering Zimbabwe Football Association, Cuthbert Dube is a very interesting and predictable character. Only yesterday, Beezsports.com warned that a possible U-turn was going to come from Zifa regarding the number of players suspended.

Dube has just done it again! The man has retracted his previous statement in which he contradicted the report given by ZIFA CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze that all implicated players will be suspended untilt they clear their names through the Ethics Committee.

At the time, Dube suggested that reports that 67 or 82 players were suspended, credited to his CEO, were not true, and argued that only three players (Method Mwanjali, Nyasha Mushekwi and Thomas Sweswe had been suspended.

Now Dube has made yet another Zifa U-turn, and says all players implicated in match-fixing in the Asiagate Report are excluded for selection for the upcoming 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Burundi.

Only yesterday, Beezsports.com predicted that given the fact that inconsistence appears to be synonymous with this Dube-led Zifa, a twist and turn in the story was on the cards.

"The niggling worry where Zifa's communication is concerned is that we probably haven't heard the last in the possible series of twists and turns in this report of player suspensions coming from Zifa House," read the Beezsports Editorial Comment yesterday.

What Zifa appears to be ignoring are the possible repurcusions these inconsistencies have, firstly on the image of Zimbabwe football and secondly on the well-being or development of the sport in the country.

We all know that Fifa regulations do not allow for government interference in the running of national football by Zifa. But is the Zifa Council surely that blind to the blundering of the board? Is there a role that the Sports and Recreation Commission can play to ensure good governance in the running of football in Zimbabwe?

Does it not say it all that Zifa is failing to attract the much-needed sponsorship where clubs are able to attract same sponsorships from local companies, and the PSL has once again started to regain the confidence of the corporate world after professionalising their act?

For how long shall our football go to the dogs when those who have in themselves the power to influence change simply sit back and fold their hands with inaction and give every excuse there is in the book for their silence and lack of action?

Zifa, including its president Dube has really made Zimbabwean football governance and especially our national teams a laughing stock in the world of sport through poor judgement, inconsistent statements in the media and ill-conceived or poorly-timed actions.

It appears that Zifa want kudos for their role in cleansing the national game of corruption. Well and good. But Zimbabwe's problem of failing to qualify for major cup tournaments can not be entirely blamed on match-fixing. It is poor planning and poor judgement on the part of administrators.

Zifa board members, ever since they came into office, have done more harm to our football than the little good they purport to be trying to do. If Zifa want the good work they are doing to be recognised, they should put their house in order first.

There should be order at Zifa House! Right now, pandamonia rules in that house, qualifying it to be called a House of Error. What! With a president who has the perchant to shoot off his mouth in the wrong direction when he should be speaking in unison with the decisions of his own board.

Even the so-called sacrifices which Dube has made towards bailing out Zifa ( now it has been revealed that they were loans from Buymore and not grants from Dube) cannot be used as justification for the errors of Dube and his board.

The Zimbabwean soccer fan must be crying out now: For how shall these Zifa inconsistencies be allowed to destroy national football in the country? Who can save us from this poor governance?

SRC, Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Union, Zifa Council, and other stakeholders, we hope you are listening!